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FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR

Braaaaaains and Politics: The VP Debate

Zombies are so damn overplayed, but there is a key element in them. It is so easy for the infection to spread. Just one zombie can turn a population into a bunch of mindless creatures.

Everybody is sure the debate between incumbent vice president Joe Biden and challenger Paul Ryan is going to be a slaughter. I’m not so confident. It’s not that I can’t see Ryan doing a good job. On the contrary, he’ll perform very well at the debate, and I don’t doubt for a moment that he would win. I’m not calling Biden a braindead zombie (literally every Conservative talk show is already doing that), but he can be just as dangerous.

Of course you made this already, Internet. Of course.

There is something about Joe Biden that no one seems to point out. I realize the man is not the brightest bulb in the world of politics, but he has a tremendous amount of charisma. We hear all the clips from the Right of Biden making terrible statements, but there isn’t one clip of him speaking to a crowd that doesn’t end in a lot of cheering. Ever notice that? No matter what he’s selling, he does it in a way that the crowd he’s speaking to gets into it.

I know those of you who disagree would argue that he is only speaking to supporters in those clips, but there is an element of gaining the independent vote that most people ignore – word of mouth. Biden excites the base when he speaks to them. He does so in a way that makes them give him a standing ovation. If they are excited, they sound excited when talking to independent friends about the Obama campaign, and that has just as big an impact as anything else that sways the middle.

So, while we who are pulling for Romney know that Ryan can hold his own and is certainly more than capable of winning, it is not wise to underestimate his opponent in something so important.

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See this post and others of mine here. Follow me on Twitter: @joec_esquire